Kosten der HRM2-Einführung: Eine Regulierungskostenanalyse auf Zürcher Gemeindeebene

The new municipal law in the canton of Zurich obliges the municipalities to adopt HAM2 by the year 2019. The aim of this article is to analyze the implementation costs of this new model by using the “Analysis of regulatory costs” from the Swiss federal government. It is the first time this methodology is being used on a regulation at cantonal level. Regarding empirical evidence, 17 interviews with all pilot- and project communities within the canton of Zurich serve as the basis of data. This full census is completed by a validation interview with the respective cantonal authority. The results show that the absolute costs of the implementation of HAM2 strongly correlate with the size of a community. Looking at the relative costs per capita, it appears that HAM2 is less cost intensive for tax subjects of larger municipalities. Besides the one-time project effort of implementation, the municipalities also have additional expenses in their daily business. However, these costs are low and worthwhile since they include managing the fixed assets accounting, which is according to the interviewees the most crucial advantage of HAM2.